THE TIMBER INDUSTRY  

Research by Gordon Freegard

Until 1870 there were few records of exploitation of the Colony's extensive hardwood forests. The early settlers' homes were made of wood, reed and swampmud - very durable and comfortable materials, if plain - and some of them were still habitable many years later. Scattered through old archives are some brief records of tenders calling for piles and decking, for public works like the Barracks) and for schooners to trade along the coast and to the Eastern Colonies to London, Singapore, China and India.

The early colonists discovered magnificent jarrah and karri forests. They had crude methods of dealing with them, but they did find out the special virtues of the hardwoods and sought to let the world know about them. At long intervals small shipments were sent abroad of what the settlers called "mahogany", sometimes to win favour and be sold, and sometimes to meet a contrary fate and involve the shippers in heavy losses. The first tender for timber supplies appeared in 1833. In 1845 attention was drawn to some difficulties had in transporting a large jarrah log from the Canning River to Fremantle. There is a record of 2,550 cubic feet of timber having been sent to England in 1846 to the British Admiralty. Some trading was done with American whalers who were common to our coast in those times, with Albany their favourite port of call. Jarrah, karri and tuart do not reach down to the sea like the big timbers of Tasmania; hence there is no water movement of the sawn product. Great difficulties faced the pioneers in getting their product to such ports as then existed, and much of the conversion of the big logs was down in pit-saws. Time has not obliterated all evidence of them and the remains of many can be still seen in these old mill areas.

THE COMMERCIAL FOREST

Roughly, the commercial forest begins in the region of Chidlow's Well and extends southwards from the Darling Ranges some 350 miles, broadening to an expanse of 25 to 35 miles and approaching to within a few miles of the coast. Forestry maps indicate much wider areas, but the actual milling forest is more limited. The milling districts have been, or are, Helena, Canning, Pickering Brook, Jarrahdale, Roleystone, Dwellingup, Marrinup, Wuraming, Holyoake, Nanga Brook, Waroona, Yarloop, Hoffman, Waterons, Mornington, Worsley, Collie, Muja, Wilga, Dardanup, Noggerup, Kirup, Jarrahwood, Nannup, Manjimup, Pemberton, Denmark and Karridale. In 1933 the classification of various areas of forest as follows: Jarrah 3,900,000 acres, Karri 400,000 acres, Jarrah & Karri mixed 350,700 acres, Tuart 5,932 acres, Tinglewood 16,000 acres. The forestry policy has meant the planting of various kind of pines to supplement and many substantial cuttings from these plantations have already taken place.

In was in the 1870's that the forests were first entered by the big pioneer sawmillers and hewers. Converting the trees into processed timber at a rapid rate. The Forestry Department from time to time issued bulletins of the progress. In 1836 only about 10,000 cubic feet went abroad, valued at 2,500 pounds. By 1928 the exports had reached 291,714,991 cubic feet, valued at 27,740,753 pounds. In 1913 over 100,000 sleepers were shipped to South Africa. One of the busiest periods was just prior to the 1st World War; another began about 1924 and ended abruptly in 1928. During the heyday of the industry 5,000 men found constant employment. But over the years since, there has been a contraction as various areas were cut-out.

COLONY'S FIRST MILL

The Timber Industry was one of the first industries to be established in Western Australia.  The south west of the state was once dotted with timber mill towns but many of these are now extinct and their history fast disappearing.  It is believed that the first timber to be exported to England left the state in 1831, exported by J.H. Morby.  In 1833 a wood yard was established at Mt. Eliza by J.L. Moanger at Quindalup. The first steam driven mill in the Colony was built at Guildford in 1844: another followed it at what was then called Gooseberry Hill (now Carmel). The large scale cutting of timber in the south west was begun by Henry Yelverton in 1853 and in 1858 he set up a mill. But the first modern standard mill was erected at Quindalup, near Busselton, where another mill followed a little later. One of these was running until 1902, when Quindalup was absorbed in the amalgamation of sawmilling companies.

THE AMALGAMATION

The largest private sawmilling concern of the State was Millars' Timber and Trading Co., Limited, which was founded by the late Edwin F. and C. G. Millar, railway and general contractors, of Melbourne. They first came in contact with Western Australia in connection with the Western Australian Land Co., of Albany, which entrusted to them the building of the Albany - Beverley Railway. To cope with the undertaking they secured karri areas at Torbay and erected several mills. At a later date new mills were erected in areas around Denmark. The opening of the goldfields brought a new lease of life to these mills and much prosperity to Albany and Denmark. At one time there was a community of 1,000 people at Denmark, dependant on the timber industry. Millar Brothers' interests were acquired in 1897 by Millars' Karri and Jarrah Forests Limited, with the late Henry Teasdale Smith general manager,the late H. Cairns manager of Albany, The late John Couglan manager of Denmark and the late Thomas Boyne manager of Fremantle.

The company was absorbed in the amalgamation in 1902 with the following companies:- The Jarrah and Wood Paving Corporation, Worsley; Jarrahdale Jarrah Forests and Railways Ltd., Jarrahdale and Perth; The Gill McDowall Jarrah Timber Co, Waroona; The Jarrah Wood and Sawmills Co., Ltd., Jarrahwood; The Imperial Jarrah Wood Corporation, Newlands and Quindalup; and The Canning Jarrah & Timber Company, Canning Mills. By 1905 Millars was listed as operating 284 miles of line, 22 locomotives, 8 passenger carriages and 726 goods and timber trucks.

THE METHOD USED

The method used for timber-milling was practically the same throughout the South-West of Western Australia. In the first place the tree is selected for cutting and a "vee" or "sloven" chopped in on the side to which the "fallers" wish it to drop. This prevents the trunk from splitting and permits it to fall easily. The back is usually sawn through by means of a double-handed crosscut saw. As the first warnings or cracking noises occur, the men prepare to make a hurried departure lest they be hit by falling branches, which rebound frequently, with great force. When the tree descends with a thunderous crash, it is barked and the branches severed at the farther end.

The whim, or two-wheeled jinker, is then brought along and after a lever attached to it lifts the log just clear of the ground, it is carried to the bush-landing, the "swamper" or handy man assisting the whim driver by making a clear track through the forest. Sometimes the log is hauled short distances by means of a steel hawser, or chain, attached to an engine at the landing.

When it arrives there, the steam winch, by means of a shorter hawser and large hook, rolls the log aboard the "rake" of the railway trucks which undertakes the journey to the mill. It is then unloaded by another winch onto the ramp at the top of a slope leading downhill to the mill. Most mills were built on the side of a hill, and the slope was used to meanouver the logs, stage by stage downwards through the various processes at the mills, finally emerging at the foot of the incline as timber, true to size and shape, ready for building construction.

First the steam crosscut saw trims the ends off square and after being securely fixed to the traveling bench, the log is passed through the "big twins", two circular saws six feet in diameter, one set just behind the other so that the teeth will not clash. With surprising quickness the huge log is cut right along and the parts slide down on the greased skids to smaller benches. After the different sizes of timber have been sawn and docked of to the required lengths, the smaller pieces are conveyed to the picket and paving block benches, while the odds and ends are sent away on the endless belt for firewood.

Copyright : Gordon Freegard   2008 - 2022